American Idol popster and fellow Texan Kelly Clarkson started her career with major success. She followed up her AI win with a massive selling first release and managed to come up even bigger with her follow-up going for more of a rock, albeit mainstream, sound in the process.
I’ll admit that “Since U Been Gone” was damn catchy.
Then, all hell broke loose. Clarkson, in a gutsy act of what appeared to be, gasp, artistic defiance told her label and Clive Davis, the man who crafted her career, to shove it. She had decided to make a record that was all her own and refused advice from Davis or the label. Reports swirled that Davis was shelving the release and Clarkson told Blender that he was 80 and not supposed to get what she was doing. Meow!
At the time, I applauded her. I thought it was ballsy of her to take the risk and go her own way. My gut belief was that her songs would probably not be very good but that she could grow from the experience and, hopefully, bring some of her old fans along with her. I even thought it would be smarter on her part to try something a little different - make a mellower CD, something acoustic, or work with some different writers to help her through the transition.
She stayed the course and I thought it was pretty brave of her. Then, something happened. Her record tanked.
It’s amazing how quickly an “artist” becomes nothing more than an attention whore. Clarkson witnessed the paltry CD sales for her latest release (granted, more than most indie artists could ever dream of), and what did she do? Did she suck it up and realize that was the price she was paying for truly becoming Miss Independent? Did she continue to tour, changing to smaller, more intimate venues where she could get across her message when ticket sales waned?
No, she balked. She canceled her mega tour and went crawling back to her label and Davis. She issued a public apology on her website and has now agreed to release a new pop CD in 2008 with material approved by Davis personally.
What a freaking WUSS!
She had ALL of it. She had become a media darling starved for someone with the gumption to stand up to Davis and the greedy music industry. She made AI look good by demanding she be treated like a real artist and not some candy ass pop star. They were even talking about how great it was that she refused to lose weight to fit in with the industry standard.
On top of that, she had the label by the balls! They caved! She went to them, told them she was doing what she wanted and instead of shelving her as they could have, the let her do what she wanted. She had a Get Out of Jail Free card - something a lot of people in her position would kill for.
What’s more, she had the respect of her fans, who wanted to see her succeed.
Unfortunately, her songs weren’t very good. It was an immature record - something you might expect from a pop singer with little writing experience - with no real hooks or definable direction. That’s ok though. This was the start of a new CAREER for her as a mature singer/songwriter.
But, she totally blew it. She hired some manager who had never worked with the big boys before - probably relying upon friends to give recommendations - and Team Clarkson gave up on the new career and skulked back to her label like a good little girl.
Now, she has lost the respect of the media and has absolutely ZERO leverage with her label. They know she caves when the pressure is on. They will never allow her to forget it. The media will crucify her for giving in. What’s worse, she’s lost all credibility with her fans who can’t believe her when she says she’s doing things her way.